~𝑺𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒎𝒆𝒔~

Sherlock Holmes (born William Sherlock Scott Holmes) is the world's only consulting detective, a profession he created for himself. He is based in London and often consulted by Greg Lestrade of New Scotland Yard, usually taking his best friend and flatmate, John Watson, on cases. He has a keen and strong interest in unusual or bizarre crimes, without which he rapidly becomes bored, relying on nicotine to keep his brain active, although in the past he has dabbled in illegal drugs such as heroin for entertainment.

Sherlock is a thinker and an observer; his incredible ability to notice and draw deductions from seemingly trivial details is his primary tool for solving crimes he investigates. He also often utilizes his "mind palace", a tool for remembering the smallest of details and visually organizing his memories. However, his unusual and somewhat anti-social personality and characteristic has led to many in the official police force distrusting and disliking him.

Sherlock claims on more than one occasion to be a "high-functioning sociopath".[1][2] However, according to Jim Moriarty, as well as Sherlock's own actions and displays of emotion and empathy, this may not be true. Sherlock does not seem to exhibit any of the symptoms of an anti-social personality disorder. John jokes once, to explain Sherlock's behavior, that he might suffer from Asperger's Syndrome, a disorder on the autism spectrum. Perhaps Sherlock's most noticeable trait is his proneness to boredom. He is continuously agitated by the lack of work, describing peace as "hateful".

Even if a case is offered to him, he won't take it unless he finds it sufficiently attractive (though it is worth noting that he seems to lower his standards as he gets more desperate). In the absence of casework that meets his criteria, he will go to extreme lengths to keep himself occupied, such as repeatedly shooting the wall of his flat with live rounds, and even turning to drugs in more extreme situations; he claims that he is a "user" of narcotics on more than one occasion, which helps to increase his thought process. He even went so far as to accuse the criminal class of slackening, viewing that as the reason for his boredom. He labels himself as a high functioning sociopath, but is more likely to have Asperger syndrome.

Sherlock also has a blatant disregard for rules and etiquette. He once wore only a bedsheet to Buckingham Palace and was willing to walk out of there naked, greatly embarrassing Mycroft.

Sherlock has a major manipulative streak and will often take advantage of people to get his way. For example, knowing Molly has a crush on him, he will occasionally flatter her to gain access to the morgue he would not otherwise have.[14] John, on the other hand, is sometimes subject to experiments. In one particular instance, when Sherlock needs to test out a drug, he sneaks it into John's coffee. When John tries to say "I don't take sugar," Sherlock effectively uses a 'kicked puppy' look to guilt John into finishing the drink.[3]

He seems to have a sense of humour, though it is very sarcastic and can be quite dark sometimes. Sherlock is amused, most notably, by the stupidity of others in comparison to himself. He also often makes quips at the expense of his brother, Mycroft, usually about his dieting habits or his posh job.

Sherlock is incredibly unamused; however, by John's blog. He thinks the titles John gives their cases, such as "The Geek Interpreter", or "The Speckled Blonde", are ridiculous, and he finds the fame that comes with being an 'internet phenomenon' distasteful and funny. He was also deterred by the prospect of having to wear his now-iconic deerstalker in public for the cameras. In "The Lying Detective", he puts it on before heading out to have cake for his birthday, stating "I'm Sherlock Holmes. I wear the damn hat."

One quality that Sherlock lacks entirely is tact, which is one of the main reasons that he is disliked so heavily by so many people. He often doesn't notice when his accurate deductions about other people's personal lives offend them, including the implication that Anderson and Sally Donovan were having an affair - that being said, neither of them did anything to soften his opinion of them.

He is incredibly antagonistic towards the officers at Scotland Yard, particularly Anderson and Sally Donovan, which is often relayed with a cutting remark from the latter. It does seem, though that, over time, Sherlock is becoming increasingly aware of his ability to insult, occasionally asking John "Not good?" when he does see that he has upset someone.[3]

Although he puts forth a cold-hearted and rough exterior, Sherlock does have a kind, caring side. Despite telling John that not caring about people makes it easier to do his job, Sherlock has concern for the people involved in his cases. During one of their earlier instances, when John's girlfriend Sarah was kidnapped by Chinese smugglers, Sherlock focused on saving her rather than catching the smugglers themselves and comforted her gently while untying her, even though he had not seemed to like her much previously. And again, in one of his first confrontations with Moriarty, he looks very emotionally affected when he is unable to save the life of an older woman. A bit later, at Baskerville, he tries to talk Henry down from taking his own life.[3]

He reacted with compassion towards his younger sister, Eurus Holmes, upon learning the secret behind her childhood song. When Eurus became uncommunicative following their final game at Musgrave Hall, Sherlock visited her and played his violin for her, eventually eliciting a reaction from her. He continued visiting Sherrinford and playing for Eurus over the years, later able to hold a violin recital of the two of them for their parents and Mycroft, reflecting in Eurus some measure of mental recovery and also Sherlock's dedicated care to his newly learned sister, apparently forgiving her for her responsibility of Victor Trevor's death and the subsequent trauma. He also despises criminals such as Charles Augustus Magnussen, who disgusted him more than any criminal he ever dealt with and described Culverton Smith as a monster.

Appearance

Sherlock is a tall, svelte man appearing no more than in his late thirties, with pale skin and dark, curly hair. His look is designed to stand out in contrast to John, who is shorter, with straight blonde hair. His eyes can appear to be silver, blue or even green depending on the light. Sherlock's iconic outfit consists of a long ulster coat, the collar spiked up (which John calls out for being part of his "cool" image), and a dark blue scarf. Beneath his coat, he always wears a black suit with a dress shirt, no tie. During mornings in his flat, he would sometimes skip the suit jacket and instead wears a dressing gown in camel, crimson, blue or tartan. Sherlock can also be seen wearing the famous checkered deerstalker hat. He has been known, on occasion, to wear nothing but a bedsheet.

Abilities Genius-Level Intellect: Sherlock Holmes has an extremely high intellect and masterful observational skills. He is presumably the third most intelligent character on the show currently alive, with only his elder brother Mycroft and younger sister Eurus surpassing him in intelligence. However, Sherlock's intelligence was sufficient that he was able to resist Eurus's manipulation abilities. His intelligence is thanks in part to a highly developed “mind palace”, a memory technique that allows him to memorize vast amounts of information. Deduction: Sherlock has many well-developed abilities that aid him with his detective work, including a profound aptitude for deductive reasoning. Investigation: He often uses a memory retrieval technique called "the method of loci"[17], which he refers to as his 'mind palace'.[18] John describes this system of storing memories as plotting them on a map of a familiar location and retrieving those memories by finding the way back to them, to theoretically never forget anything. To use this skill, Sherlock requires silence and space to himself to reduce outside interference. Cold Readings: Upon meeting a person, he will often "scan" them, using elements of their appearance and behavior to arrive at astonishingly accurate conclusions about their past or personality. He sometimes even performs cold readings on a location such as an apartment to deduce a trait related to the current resident. His cold readings are usually performed subconsciously, as his brain was still performing them and deducing things about people and places in front of him when he was heavily intoxicated on John's stag night and severely depressed after Mary's death. However, Sherlock is not infallible, as he admits "there is always something" that he misses or misinterprets.[1]

Master Violinist: Sherlock has shown considerable ability to play the violin on multiple occasions. He even stated he sometimes composes his own pieces, as it "helps him think".